Police recorded a soiled pair of underwear hung on a washing line as a non-crime hate incident (NCHI), it has emerged.
In September 2021, a woman complained to North Wales Police that her neighbours had “hung a very large soiled pair of underpants on their washing line” for the past two months.
The force recorded it as a hate incident because the complainant had an Italian surname and the underwear was first put on the washing line in July that year. That month, Italy defeated England on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the final of football’s European Championships.
The incident, disclosed by North Wales Police under freedom of information laws, comes as police face increasing scrutiny for their handling of “hate” incidents.
The incident summary reports: “Known offenders have hung a very large soiled pair of underpants on their washing line, they have been there for over two months.
“The IP [injured party] believes that [they] are aimed at her because she has an Italian surname and it is in regards to the football.”
Some 13,000 NCHIs were recorded over a year up until this June.
Other incidents recorded recently included a person who refused to shake hands in an alleged gender row and a “rough” haircut reported by a customer who claimed his barber was “aggressive” following a discussion about the war in Ukraine.
Further “ridiculous” claims included a German woman being offended at being compared to a rottweiler and a neighbour who deemed it homophobic to be referred to as “Leonard” in a hedge dispute.
Last week it emerged that children are among thousands of people being investigated by police for non-crime hate incidents.
Police forces recorded an incident against a nine-year-old who called a primary school classmate a “retard” and another against two secondary school girls who said that another pupil smelt “like fish”.
On Thursday, the head of the police standards body warned that the way police are recording non-crime incidents threatens to undermine public confidence in officers.
Lord Herbert, chairman of the College of Policing, said trust was being damaged by the perception that forces were getting involved in “mere disputes” at the expense of tackling crimes such as shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.
Essex Police this week dropped its investigation into Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson.
The award-winning writer was being investigated for allegedly stirring up racial hatred with a social media post made in November last year.
Two police officers knocked on her door on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was under investigation and invited her to a voluntary interview – while refusing to tell her which post on X, formerly Twitter, they were talking about.
After widespread backlash over the “appalling” inquiry, the force announced it had closed its investigation.
